Hi Rich & Joe M. I don't think that the threads themselves are actually the cause of jamming the shaft stuck to the DEC shaft adapter (mating) flange. When this happened to my AP-900 mount, it seemed

Hi Charlie, I haven't had a repeat either, but the mount is still young. Anyway, I gave the aluminum adapter flange an extra strong torque when I put it back on the DEC end. I would hate to add a stra

You may be right Joe, but the threads are not that tight going on, so I assumed it must have been stiction. Of course, in reality it is a combination of both causes. In a warm environment like direct

Terry, As a preventative, maybe you can "apply a treatment" to the DEC adapter ring. Perhaps wax the mating surfaces, or stick on 3 or 4 very thin, plastic bubble/feet (glides) to the adapter - this w

I wonder if a different approach could be used in the south ... some day. Perhaps a "signal strength meter" to measure the position of one of the GPS satellite positions, could be used as an offset re

Hi Dirk, I don't if it will help very much, but you do realize that there are 3 pairs of holes for the DOVELM16 knobs, and by default only the forward and rearward pair are used. You could try moving

Hi Dirk, Sorry to have misled you. I have the DOVELM8 on my AP900, and it does have 3 sets of holes for the two sets of knobs, so I assumed the DOVELM16S was similar. Now that I had a close look at th

Hi, I'm a bit confused about a step in this procedure - perhaps somebody can tell me what is really going on with the Keypad program. In following the "N Polar Calibrate" series of steps, Step #3 tell

Hi, I finally got around to trying the "What's Up" feature on the keypad. However, although I could forward step and skip targets, there doesn't seem to be the ability to backstep to the previous targ

Thanks Howard, I really appreciate your effort in getting me straightened out on this. I must have read that section of the Keypad guide more than a dozen times, over the past year - with my mind putt

Hi Stephen, One thing we must all accept is the EXTREMELY limited memory size and power of the hand pad controller. As you know, Rene Goerlich has been VERY selective about any fixes or advancements i

Hi Chris, I would second your wish for the "red light". I think it should be pointed up from in front of the keypad hook, since I find it hassle to poke around in the dark trying to attach the BLACK r

So ... Chris ... I guess that rules out my using those 3 luminous pancakes I bought as vibration pads for my Losmandy G11 tripod. Probably could die of radiation poisoning.:-) Joe

Hi, One more off topic lead - I saw an "ear mount" white LED flashlight, with push button switch, for about $2 in a grab bin, at a local job shop (Princess Auto, in Canada). This flashlight is about t

Hi Rolando, I wasn't aware about the fine point of having to select a previous "specific named object" (star, galaxy, nebula, etc.), for the RECAL to work. So, just issuing a GOTO to a RA-DEC coordina

Thanks Rolando, That clarifies it for me. Joe

Hi, As winter will too soon be here, I am NOT looking forward to having to shovel a trench in the snow to kneel into, in order to use the polar scope. It was awkward enough in summer (at 45 deg N). I

Sorry to pi** you off, Bill, but I figured somebody would state the obvious without much contemplation. To answer the obvious, as a professional engineer, I spent quite some time - months - planning,

Thanks Hank, Actually, I tried using my green laser pointer (GLP) as a test, by firing it into my Questar-7 Maksutov, thinking it would work the same as one of the US observatories did, hitting the "L

Thanks Hank, I just figured since a laser is already highly collimated, yet another lens after the lens in the laser, wasn't going to do anything. I looked at a 150 mw laser in the local astro store,